Alice in wonder

At our last Technology Integrator's Forum we had a really nice overview of some powerful uses of technology in local school districts.  Our first presentation was from Kelsey and Rachel Braun (No relation) from Pine Valley Central Schools.  Kelsey showed our participants how they re-imaged some older computers to run the Open Source UBUNTU Linux platform.  This platform allows for some free and innovative programs that run fluently with the operating system.  Here are some resources that were shared about Linux.

http://ubuntusite.com/ubuntu-flavors/  What is Linux?
http://www.stellarium.org/  A nice planetarium program for Linux
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6349  From Kindergarten to HS with Linux

Rachel Braun, the Elementary Art teacher, then showed how she uses the Linux program to create fantastic digital art projects.

http://mypaint.intilinux.com/  My paint Program
http://tuxpaint.org/  Tux Paint Program
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/609530-REG/Wacom_PTK640_Intuos4_Digital_Tablet_Medium.html  A tablet that can be effectively used with the programs.

This is just a sampling of the ideas and projects they shared.  So if you are school district that is looking stretch some of your older computers for a little while, you can consider installing the Ubuntu operating system.  Pine Valley has had great success.

Our afternoon presentation offered a hands on look at two programs designed to teach students how to make code for animating objects.

Our first presentation from Andy Pingatore from Fredonia Central Schools, showed us the Alice Program.  Andy showed us how he has used this program with his students.  This program teaches coding in a fun and unique way.  Most importantly it is FREE!  Get a free download with teacher resources below:

http://www.alice.org/index.php

Lastly, we had Shaun Laska, Frewsburg math teacher, tell us about another introduction to coding program called Scratch from MIT.  This program would make a great start towards showing younger students the magic of writing computer program code.

http://scratch.mit.edu/

This was really a wonderful day of learning new approaches to Ed Tech!